CHAPTER 2
Constitutional Democracy: Promoting Liberty and Self-Government
Presentation by Eric Miller, Blinn College, Bryan, Texas.
FISHER AMES
The people must be
governed by a majority,
with whom all power
resides. But how is the
sense of this majority to
be obtained?
INTRODUCTION
• Liberty
• Framers wanted to protect liberty
• Sought to restrain political power
• Limited Government
• Gov. is subject to strict limits on its lawful
use of power
• Self-Government
• Gov. is subject to the will of the people
as expressed through their votes
BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION
• “The Rights of Englishmen”
• French and Indian War
• led to taxes on colonists
• Stamp Tax
• Tax on colonial newspapers & business documents
• led to cry of “no taxation without representation”
• Townshend Act
• more taxes; paper, glass, & tea
• George III sent troops to enforce it
• Boston Tea Party
• First Continental Congress- Philadelphia 1774
• Called for free assembly, end to British occupation, colonial councils for
imposition of taxes, trial by local juries…
• Colonists rebelled because they thought their rights as British subjects were
being violated
BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION
• 2nd Continental Congress- The Declaration of Independence
• Locke: inalienable rights- “natural rights”
• Jefferson: (primary author)
• paraphrased Locke’s philosophy
• Call to revolution–not a framework of government
• Liberty, equality, individual rights, self-government, lawful powers
BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION
• The Articles of Confederation
(Our nation’s 1st plan of gov.)
• Writers were leery of a powerful
central government
• Each state retained its
“sovereignty, freedom, and
independence”
• Congress to provide for national
defense but no power to do so
• Congress was not allowed to
interfere with states’ commerce
BEFORE THE CONSTITUTION
• Shay’s Rebellion(A sign that the national gov. was too weak)
• Late 1786 in Massachusetts, mostly farmers
• Farmers faced loss of property and new taxes on
farms
• Congress and the army were weak and action was
needed as anarchy was feared
• Annapolis meeting did not achieve any results
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
•
Philadelphia 1787
• George Washington presided
• Given power to fix the Articles
• Came up with a new plan of government
• 55 delegates known as “the Framers”
• Madison, Franklin, Hamilton…
• Important figures NOT there
• Jefferson, Adams, Paine…
• Produced the Constitution
NEGOTIATING TOWARD A
CONSTITUTION
• The Great Compromise:
• A Two-Chamber (bicameral)
Congress
• The Virginia Plan
• The New Jersey Plan
• The Great Compromise
NEGOTIATING TOWARD A
CONSTITUTION
• The North-South Compromise: The Issue
of Slavery
• North-South Compromise on
economic issues
• No taxing exports, but allowed
taxing imports
• Three-Fifths Compromise
• Applied to both taxation and
representation
NEGOTIATING TOWARD A CONSTITUTION
• A Strategy for Ratification
• Would others share the writer’s views?
• Designed a new ratification process
• Must be approved in at least 9 state
conventions
• The Ratification Debate
• Anti-Federalists
• Federalists
NEGOTIATING TOWARD A CONSTITUTION
•
The Framers’ Goals
• Stronger national government
• Preserve states as viable governments
• Preserve liberties through checks and balances on power
• Based on popular sovereignty
• Restricted in uses of power
• Give the people a voice in government
PROTECTING LIBERTY
• Grants and Denials of Power
• Grants of power
• Article I, Section 8 for powers of
Congress
• Denials of power
• Writs of habeas corpus
• Ex post facto laws
• Difficult to amend
• Limited government
PROTECTING LIBERTY
• Using Power to Offset Power
• Separation of powers
• Federalist #10
• “Mischiefs of faction”
• Separated Institutions Sharing
Power
• Montesquieu• Separation of powers
• Checks and Balances
• Shared Legislative Powers
• Shared Executive Powers
• Shared Judicial Powers
PROTECTING LIBERTY
• The Bill of Rights
• Existed in many state
constitutions
• Jefferson argued for a federal
constitution
• Judicial Review
• Marbury v. Madison (1803)
• Precedent for court
interpretation of the
constitution
PROVIDING FOR SELFGOVERNMENT
• Democracy Versus Republic
• Democracy
• Republic
• Representative Democracy
• Trustees
PROVIDING FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT
•
Limited Popular Rule
• House of Representatives–direct popular election
• Senators–appointed by legislatures
• Presidents–elected by Electoral College
• Judges–nominated by President and confirmed by the Senate
PROVIDING FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT
• Altering the Constitution
• Jeffersonian Democracy: A Revolution of the Spirit
• Jacksonian Democracy: Linking the People and the
Presidency
• Proposed that states should choose their electors by
popular elections
• The Progressives: Senate and Primary Election
• More popular control:
• Primary Elections
• Initiative and referendum
• Recall elections
STATES IN THE NATION
States with the
Referendum and/or Initiative process
11
25
14
Both
Either
Neither
STATES IN THE NATION